Balance
I am concerned that the Christian
church has failed to proclaim a
balanced message in almost every respect. For example I recently
read a publication by a well-known and well-respected Christian teacher
which proclaimed that 'God is love'. My immediate thought was,
"That is true, but that is not the whole truth!" A balanced
message would be that God is love, and God is also a consuming fire.
One of my favorite passages of
Scripture is this:
2 Cor 1:3
Blessed is the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all
help, Who helps us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to
help those who are in all affliction with the help with which we
ourselves are helped by God.
2 Cor 1:3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
2 Cor 1:4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may
be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort
with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
And Yet I must add the following so
as not to mis-represent God:
Rom 11:22
Behold then the
kindness, and the severity of God; on those having fallen, severity;
but on you, kindness, if you continue in the kindness. Otherwise you
also will be cut off.
This balanced representation of God
is essential if one is to be
reconciled with God, and if one wants to have real joy in one's
life. Years ago I was 'arrested' by the following verses of
Scripture:
Heb 1:8 But
to the Son [God]
says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of
righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated
iniquity, therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil
of gladness above Your fellows."
This passage is actually a quote of
an Old Testament passage in Psalms:
Psa 45:6
Your throne, O God, is
forever and ever; the staff of Your kingdom is a staff of
righteousness.
Psa 45:7 You love righteousness, and hate wickedness; therefore
God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your
fellows.
The effect of this knowledge of a
balanced view of God is that we can
only obtain mercy if we acknowledge our guilt! And our repentance
is only as deep as our acknowledgment of our guilt before God.
And our reconciliation with God is only as complete as our recognition
of how contrary we are to Him in our thoughts and desires and deeds.
I love the old saying, "The only
thing I need to be humble is to know
the truth about myself."
In 1997 a friend gave me a copy of
Rick Joyner's book entitled "Final
Quest". In it Rick Joyner goes before the Judgment Seat of
Christ, and is shown the truth about himself. So I decided that I
needed the same ultimate reality check. When I asked God to show
me the truth about myself I was shocked to discover that I was not
nearly the same person that I had thought I was! It was painful,
but it was worth the pain. And I find that this process goes on
and on as God holds a mirror up to me in various ways to continue to
uncover my faults and sins. But the joy I experience as God
graciously shows me the truth makes it all worthwhile!!
Don't, dear reader, be satisfied with
limited comfort which only saves
you from your current crisis. Ask God to sanctify you entirely.
1Th 5:23 And
may the God of
peace Himself sanctify you, and may your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blamelessly at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And don't, dear reader,
fool yourself in to thinking that you are better than you are. I
don't believe that a fool's paradise leads to the real Paradise!